Lucky lady

Pauliasi Nasegai returns the purse to Azijun Nishar who lost it at the Damodar City complex in Suva. Picture: SUPPLIED

A WOMAN who lost her purse in a Suva supermarket, with her money and that of the women's group she is a part of, has a civil servant to thank for its full recovery.

Azijun Nishar lost her purse in the NewWorld Supermarket outlet at Damodor City on Tuesday. The purse contained $200 in Australian currency, about $100 Fijian, identification cards, and an ATM card that contained $2000-plus and its pin number.

"The money in the ATM card was not mine but belonged to a woman's group I am a part of. And all the cash inside the wallet was sent to me by my daughters."

She and her family began a frantic search back to the supermarket but to no avail.

"That same night, we lodged a report with police and the next morning, we went to the bank to block the ATM card and then to FRCA for a new ID.

"We were at LTA waiting to get a new licence when we received a call."

Ms Nishar said the woman on the phone asked her if she had lost anything and what it was, she also asked what colour the purse was and to pick it up from Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Pauliasi Nasegai, who works for the ministry said he found the purse on the check-out counter at the supermarket after he returned from playing soccer with his friends and asked one of his colleagues to call her.

Mr Nasegai said he had no intentions of spending the money in the wallet, but to return it to the owner.

"The people of Fiji need to hear these kinds of stories so they can know that good Samaritans exist, and we have a lot to learn from them," Ms Nishar said.

"I want to thank Pauliasi for his honesty and his colleagues at the Ministry of Youth and Sports for tracking me down and returning my purse back to me."